Protests about Australia's spying on Indonesia moved from the palace to the streets on Thursday with the hardline "Red and White Brigade" rallying outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta and Australian flags being burnt in the capital and the student city Yogyakarta.

Outside the front of the Australian embassy, several hundred protesters gathered in paramilitary uniform, carrying signs including ‘‘Mr Abbott is stupid’’, ‘‘Abbott you hurt my heart’’ and ‘‘Boycott Australian products’’.

Australian embassay staff in Jakarta are bracing for protests stemming from spying revelations. Photo: Reuters

They burnt paper replicas of the Australian and American flags, and chanted and sung the Indonesian national anthem.

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They protesters called on Indonesia to increase its military budget so it can have better security against phone-tapping.

“We are the people of Indonesia, we have the right to defend our country. The government of Australia should immediately apologise to the people of Indonesia.

The diplomatic row has been widely reported in the Indonesian media.

''If it’s not done, then don’t blame us if we attack the embassy,” a protest leader from the organisation the Red and White brigade said.

The story of Australian phone tapping and the Indonesian government's response is front page news, and tweets in which Liberal Party pollster Mark Textor appeared to compare Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa to a porn star made the front page of at least one online newspaper, Kompas.

Hacker group Anonymous Indonesia claimed credit for denial of service attacks that briefly shut down the Australian Federal Police site and also afflicted the Reserve Bank.

Another front page on the row with Australian over spying allegations.

Talkback TV and radio in Indonesia have also been ablaze with the story, with a number of callers expressing disgust at Australia "meddling" in Indonesian affairs. There have been calls for Australians to be denied visas on arrival when they arrive at Indonesian airports, including Bali.

However, other callers were more critical of the Indonesian government for allowing the phones of the president and his first lady to be tapped than for Australians for tapping it.

"Indonesia is so corrupt that the government officials enrich themselves and don't care about improving their security system," said one caller to news radio station Alshinta overnight.

Another said Indonesia should thank Australia for exposing its weakness.

Australia updated its travel warning last night under the "civil unrest and political tension" heading, drawing attention to the protest in Jakarta on Thursday.

"Local police advise that a demonstration is planned for outside the Australian Embassy on 21 November 2013. Australians should monitor local media, avoid protests, maintain high levels of vigilance and security awareness," the new advice says.

The overall level of the travel advice remains steady at "Exercise a high degree of caution".

The protest has been organised by a coalition of groups including the Red and White Brigade, the militaristic FKPPI, which includes the children of defence force and police personnel, the Institute of Indonesian People's Aspiration and the pro-army Polri Youth.

They are demanding an official apology from the Australian government for harrassing the "dignity of the unity state of the Republic of Indonesia".

Failing that they want the Australian ambassador and all his staff expelled from Indonesia. If Indonesian students living in Australia are given any trouble, they promise to "do the same to Australians living in Indonesia".

The Red and White Brigade — Barisan Merah Putih — has been known in the past for its militaristic approach to separatist movements in East Timor and Papua, and for its harassment of human rights activists in Indonesia.

At the same time, there has been an outpouring of anger towards Australia on Twitter. The hashtag #GanyangAustralia , which means "Crush Australia", has become a popular rallying point for Indonesians to respond to the spy allegations and Australia's response so far.

In the student city of Yogyakarta, about an hour's flight from the capital, students burnt an Australian flag in protest at the tapping allegations.

The group demanded an apology from Prime Minister Tony Abbott and asked the Indonesian president to sever diplomatic ties with Canberra, reports said.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott opened question time on Thursday, telling the Parliament he had received the letter from President Yudhoyono "that he promised last night".

"I want to assure the House that the government will respond swiftly, fully and courteously to the President's letter," he said.

"As always, my intention is to do everything I reasonably can to strengthen this relationship which is so important to both our countries.

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